Founded in 1959 by Ralph Trigg and the Yakima Valley Television Company, NBC Right Now (originally launched as KNDO) came into being to bring network television to Central Washington. The idea sparked when Trigg realized that the high mountains surrounding the Yakima Valley blocked TV signals from big cities like Seattle, leaving locals without clear access to news or entertainment. He decided to build a local station to fill that void and connect the community. Today, the station is owned by the Cowles Company, a historic family-owned media group based in the Pacific Northwest. Today, NBC Right Now is run by a regional team of journalists and meteorologists and is mainly focused on local news, weather, and agriculture. They are based in both Yakima and Kennewick, Washington, serving the entire "Tri-Cities" area. Because the region is heavily involved in farming and prone to wildfires, they provide extensive coverage of harvest reports and fire safety. One interesting fact: A unique fact about NBC Right Now is that it isn't just one television station—it is actually two acting as one. The brand combines KNDO in Yakima and KNDU in the Tri-Cities into a single news operation. This allows one team to broadcast the same news program to two completely different cities that are over 80 miles apart, covering a massive territory of Central Washington at the same time.